The present invention is generally related to hand hygiene. More particularly, the invention is related to a system and method for alerting a person of the requirement of washing his/her hands when entering or leaving an area of probable contamination, for reducing the incidence of hospital-acquired infections, food handling contamination, and for reducing other situations in which the acquired contamination of a person""s hands is likely to be passed to other personnel.
The incidence of hospital acquired (nosocomial) infection is approximately 8% of all hospital in-patients. Nosocomial infections are transmitted by direct or indirect contact between hospital staff and patients. Nosocomial infections are a direct result of inadequate hand hygiene by healthcare workers. It is widely recognized in the infectious diseases specialty that hand hygiene is the simplest and most dollar effective means of preventing these hospital acquired infections. Studies have demonstrated that enforcement of hand hygiene results in a roughly 50% decrease in nosocomial infection rate.
However, hand hygiene is very difficult to enforce and compliance by hospital staff and visitors is uniformly lax. In 1997, an article in the New England Journal of Medicine studied the hand-washing rate by hospital staff. Even though the physician, nurses and other staff knew that they were under scrutiny, only 35 to 40% of staff washed their hands regularly in between direct or indirect patient contact. A similar study in Annals of Internal Medicine reported hand-washing compliance in 48% of nurses and 35% of physicians. More alarmingly, respiratory therapists washed their hands on only 12% of occasions, and radiology technicians only 8%.
In addition to hospital staff and visitor hand hygiene, there is a need for improving hand hygiene in other public activities, particularly in commercial food handling and food preparation, for reducing the risk of contamination of food consumed by other people.
Thus, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the industry to reduce nosocomial an other infections.
Briefly described, the present invention comprises a system and apparatus for alerting a person entering or leaving an area to clean his or her hands. The system includes a bi-directional sensor (e.g. a passive infrared sensor) having first and second sensors spaced horizontally from each other so that the movement of a person passing the sensor is detected and the direction of movement is detected. An alarm, such as a lamp or a sound emitting device, or both, is located on one or more antiseptic dispenser units located in proximity to the sensor. The alarms on the dispenser can be actuated in response to the detection of movement of a person passing the sensor. Activation of the dispenser unit (e.g. by depressing the dispenser lever) simultaneously dispenses an aliquot of disinfectant onto the individuals hands and simultaneously de-activates the alarm system.
For example, when a person moves through the entrance into a hospital room where a patient is being cared for, the sensor detects the movement of the person into the room. Activation of the sensor causes the alarms on the dispenser to be actuated, alerting the person to decontaminate their hands. Once the person activates the dispenser lever, disinfectant is released onto the persons hands, and the alarm is simultaneously de-activated. In addition, or in the alternative, each sensor may be communicatively coupled to one or more dispenser systems. For example, one dispenser system may be located inside the room, while another dispenser system is located outside of the room. This configuration allows for hand decontamination upon both entry and/or exit of the room.
Another feature of the invention is that an alcohol based aerosolized foam or antiseptic solution can be used to clean a persons hands. Alcohol based foams or solutions can be used without the need for a sink or basin. Therefore, this embodiment would avoid the need to have a nearby wash basin and can be used in areas that do not have a wash basin.
Although a primary use of the invention is anticipated to be in health care facilities, other uses can be made of the invention, such as in food handling and food preparation facilities, where hand washing is desirable in certain areas. The invention can be used to demand hand washing before an event, as when the food handler enters the food handling area, or to demand hand washing after an event, as when a person exits a contaminated area.
Another advantage of the invention is that the hand antiseptic system is designed so that it is applicable to use in all hospital room layouts. Further, the hand antiseptic system is bi-directional in that the system is capable of determining if one or more individuals are entering or exiting the particular area. Another advantage is that the hand antiseptic system is capable of sensing multiple targets (two or more individuals entering/exiting the area) and ensuring that each individual decontaminates their hands.
Other systems, methods, features, and advantages of the present invention will be or become apparent to one with skill in the art upon examination of the following drawings and detailed description. It is intended that all such additional systems, methods, features, and advantages be included within this description, be within the scope of the present invention, and be protected by the accompanying claims.